Beyond the hearth, zongzi still the heart of holiday

Breaking with tradition

Young consumers are another force reshaping sales of the dumpling. Consumers born in the 1990s and 2000s have become important buyers of domestic brands and are helping drive innovation in traditional cultural products, said the white paper. Those age 26 to 35 are especially willing to try new zongzi flavors, with sales of such flavors during special shopping periods rising sharply.

That willingness to experiment has given rise to many internet-famous zongzi.

Some dumplings stretch the boundaries of fillings with flavors including spicy snacks, river snail rice noodle, and stinky mandarin fish.

Other zongzi borrow from tea drinks and desserts, featuring jasmine Longjing tea, rose black tea, durian ice, mango pomelo sago and chocolate hazelnut flavors. Low-GI (glycemic index) grains such as quinoa, purple rice and black rice have also been introduced to appeal to health-conscious consumers.

These new products may not replace classic red date, pork or salted egg yolk ones, but they help bring the traditional festival food into new conversations, especially on social media.

Online channels have also changed how zongzi is sold.

Consumers now buy gift boxes of the dumplings through supermarkets, e-commerce platforms, online grocery services, and livestreaming platforms.

On Douyin and Kuaishou, livestreaming hosts cut open zongzi on camera, show the fillings, explain the texture and offer discounts. On Xiaohongshu and Weibo, food bloggers compare flavors and packaging, while users share holiday shopping lists and regional recommendations.